I used to think the league would use its officials to:
- help teams win home games
- help big market teams win
- help promote stars
... now I am sure of it.

Is NBA on court play fixed? not really it is not the WWE. But it is obvious that it uses officials to manipulate the outcome of games and the promotion of stars.

The league is against great defensive players (Amir Johnson and James Johnson get the cheapest foul calls).
The foul count last night was Toronto->28 Newyork->18 terrible rhythm interrupting calls in the 2nd half took all the mojo out of Toronto's great play.

consider this excerpt from Blowing the Whistle, by Tim Donaghy.

Jeremy Lin is a great kid and an inspirational story but is it really a co-incidence that in year without Yao Ming that suddenly an unknown Asian kid has ridden to immediate stardom? and in such a short time?

Its great for the league - JLin is everywhere
heck its even great for MLSE they sold 20,096 seats last night.

If that is going on in the game I shudder to think about what is going on behind closed doors, in draft lotteries... do we even get to see the lottery now?

Toronto never gets stars and when it does they go for a nothing in return
Vince Carter for Alonzo Mourning Eric Williams and Joey Graham...?
Tracey McGrady for???
Damon Stoudamire for??
Roy Hibbert for???

Connect the dots people:
-> Kevin McHale life time Celtic
-> Goes to GM Twolves
-> trades away the best player in the league to...?

Why would the league want Toronto as a have not? it is after all the 4th biggest market and if you are considering it Canadas team - maybe the 2nd biggest market. so why?
ANSWER: American TV. They dont like Canada and neither do their sponsors many of who don't sell to Canadian Consumers (IE Direct TV)

People will flame this post as being conspiracy filled - go ahead but until you see Toronto do anything but feed other teams talent and wins its hard to argue that something don't smell funny.

After last night 4th quarter I am reminded to just enjoy the game for what it is but understand that 2nd round play will be few and far between and likely the apex of any generation of Raptor Ball... if your lucky.

lol if this were true and that the officials would just manipulate the outcome of games and the promotion of stars, let's pray that JV can do insane well, get major attention so we can get good calls for once

But all jokes aside, i don't think there really is a conspiracy to change the outcome of a game. It's more like there is some bias in the way that officials officiate. I mean, take Kobe and LeBron for example. They both get most of the calls their way cuz they've earned their spot in the NBA as great players and thus ref favor them a bit more when it comes to calls. But if you look at players such as DeRozen (Only gonna use him as an example cuz he was pretty frustrated yesterday with the calls against him) are less known and thus get the calls against them a bit more. There's no conspiracy against the Raptors, but some bias towards the more well known players.

Don't blame the league. Its more the fault of an inept front office, uneducated ignorant players, and a roster full of players who are scared to stick their neck out in the big moment. Without Bargnani to take a big shot in the clutch this team is cooked.

For what it's worth, it's been noted (by many teams) that officiating has been well below standards this season. I'm sure the Raptors aren't the only team complaining. No conspiracy here.

I agree, no conspiracy. But if there are rumblings about bad officiating, then the league should do something about it. But they havent, not even a comment to the press about this issue, which leads me to believe that the NBA does favor some teams when it comes to officiating. No matter how hard some teams play, at the end of the day, its still a business. The bigger market teams make more money for the NBA so why not give them a little edge?

Are you serious? You think that biased refereeing is a reason for this kid's rise?

He is phenomenal. In the 6 games he has played large minutes for the Knicks they are undefeated. He has scored more than 20 points in all of those games and is averaging 8.5 assists. Adding to that he is playing in the largest market in the NBA and is basically making them relevant when guys like Carmello and Amare couldn't.

You think that this is some conspiracy by the NBA? Dude, the refs can't make a guy that good. You don't get assists because the refs are making calls. You don't hit game winning threes with 0.5 seconds left because the league wants you to be a star. You do those things because you're amazing.

Is it awesome for the league that Lin is of Asian decent? Does it make it a bigger story in the media? Yes it certainly does, especially since there are so few Asian stars in the NBA, but the fact is what this guy is doing is amazing and no amount of NBA fixing could have set this up.

There is no conspiracy. This is simply one of the best stories the NBA has had for the last decade and it is being treated as such.

I am disappointed that I did not really convey my point well. I can tell by the replies that i did not do a good job.

I wish we had more players from Asian decent it warms the heart to see Basketball shatter foolish prejudices. Fields Lin and Amare all bumping chests and rejoicing together is a special scene even if it comes after Lin hits a 3 pointer to sink my team.

Anyhow always follow the money - if Lin can hang on and continue his exciting play - when the NBA sells a package of games to Chinese or Taiwan cable you can bet it will be that much more in demand and that much more lucrative.

But to my first point and the point of this post - the NBA and MLSE has very little to gain or loose if Raps are perennial losers or winners so other than the occasional scrawny bone here or there - not much to chew on and I see no reason to expect it to change.

I agree, no conspiracy. But if there are rumblings about bad officiating, then the league should do something about it. But they havent, not even a comment to the press about this issue, which leads me to believe that the NBA does favor some teams when it comes to officiating. No matter how hard some teams play, at the end of the day, its still a business. The bigger market teams make more money for the NBA so why not give them a little edge?

Lin does get BS calls by the refs in his favor. In the MSG he drives to the basket and barley gets skimmed by a guys jersey and he gets an AND 1. I've seen this multiple times, don't get me wrong i think Lin is good its just some calls are just plain stupid. The NBA Refs suck balls thats all i have to say.

I don't know about a conspiracy for keeping the Raptors in the basement. They had a chance with Carter and T-Mac but made terrible management decisions. As for the referees I often find NBA refs the worst in sports. The refs did influence the Knicks comeback for sure as the Knicks got every call they needed and the Raps got shit in the 2nd half. NBA needs to promote a new Chinese player now that Yao Ming has retired. I'm just going to laugh when Lin goes back to playing like a scrub and everyone feels stupid.

NBA needs to promote a new Chinese player now that Yao Ming has retired. I'm just going to laugh when Lin goes back to playing like a scrub and everyone feels stupid.

you do know he's taiwanese, right? they (taiwan & china) aren't exactly the best of buds. i'm sure that's largely irrelevant to the point you're grasping for, he's obviously going to have a strong fan base of asians...but to intimate that it will be anything close to yao's seems a bit much.

it's pretty hard to gauge anyone's impact or ability when they're only on the floor for a few minutes every 3rd or 4th game...but the first game this year in which he got any decent burn, he put up 9/6/3 in 20 minutes in a (close) loss to hou.

look, there's really no way to determine how this is going to play out, but at the very least, he seems to have enough NBA-quality skill to at worst be a contributor. the likelihood that he goes back to 'playing like a scrub' - or to getting scrub minutes - seems fairly remote. but hey, anything's possible.

TRUE LOVE - Sometimes you know it the instant you see it across the bar.

I'm not saying that there is, or is not a conspiracy. But as charlz says, its in the NBA's best interest to have the biggest television markets, having teams in the playoffs. And to have the games, biggest stars to get favouritism, since they are what draws eyeballs.

Toronto doesn't have a super-star and not single one of their games are on ESPN or TNT this year. The stars will continue to get the calls and until the NBA enacts a performance review of the officiating after every game, like in the NHL the biased officiating will continue.

Toronto never gets stars and when it does they go for a nothing in return
Vince Carter for Alonzo Mourning Eric Williams and Joey Graham...?
Tracey McGrady for???
Damon Stoudamire for??
Roy Hibbert for???

Not wanting to interrupt a good rant but -

Damon Stoudamire for ... Alvin Williams - you might remember him, one of the most popular Raptors ever?

Roy Hibbert for .... part of the Jermaine O'Neal trade - a gamble that didn't pay off but looked good at the time.

I'm not saying that there is, or is not a conspiracy. But as charlz says, its in the NBA's best interest to have the biggest television markets, having teams in the playoffs. And to have the games, biggest stars to get favouritism, since they are what draws eyeballs.

Toronto doesn't have a super-star and not single one of their games are on ESPN or TNT this year. The stars will continue to get the calls and until the NBA enacts a performance review of the officiating after every game, like in the NHL the biased officiating will continue.

The Raptors have had some of the worst ownership in the NBA since they came into being. It continues. Bad owners tend to lose consistently. Good owners tend to win. Not every year, but more often than not. Look what happened to the Lakers after Buss took over, or the Mavs after Cuban.
It's just incompetence, not a league-wide conspiracy.